REBECCA McCRAY / HELL GATE
“It happened because correction officers have been held accountable for their actions, and they feel threatened because they can be prosecuted for killing an incarcerated individual.”
On Monday, hundreds of correction officers employed by the state’s prison agency, DOCCS, began an unauthorized strike, citing understaffing and unsafe working conditions. As of Wednesday afternoon, the strike had spread to more than 30 of the state’s 42 prisons, with officers staging protests in front of prison gates.
Shortly after the strike began, panic began to set in among incarcerated people at prisons where COs had walked off the job, as they waited hours for vital medications and food. Incarcerated people, advocates, and family members with loved ones inside prison who spoke to Hell Gate reported …